Princess Weekend 2020

The Princess half was my first ever half marathon last year. It was a bucket list thing for me too. My DH ran it with me (well he's much faster than me, so I never saw him), but it was a great weekend. No way would he wear a costume or even a t-shirt of my choice, but he still did the race with me. Anyway, he was totally up to do the challenge with me this year. Hopefully your DH will enjoy the run with you too. Someday I want to do Wine and Dine, but my fall schedule with school and coaching just can't make it happen. Hopefully he'll enjoy himself too. Congrats on getting registered for your bucket list item!
Thank you! He really wants to do wine and dine, the princess theme isn't his 1st choice but wants to support me doing this. I can get him to wear a matching shirt most likely, tutu maybe not LOL. I know my fall workload makes travel harder so princess seemed to be the perfect time of year.
 
Not according to the runDisney website but when you click register is won't let you sign up for the 5 or 10 and says the event is full
 


Intriguing idea. Does this have to be exactly over the days of the run, or could it be days leading up to or out of the weekend?

For Marathon Weekend, I was able to get a group from Tuesday-Tuesday. I'd probably do the same for Princess. I should have info and a contract back this afternoon.

Is this strictly for marathon runners/seasoned rundisney people or would it be open to new comers only doing the 5 and/or 10k?

Nope! It's for anyone that is interested! Just basically gives you a chance to lock in a hotel room before booking is made available online.
 


For Marathon Weekend, I was able to get a group from Tuesday-Tuesday. I'd probably do the same for Princess. I should have info and a contract back this afternoon.



Nope! It's for anyone that is interested! Just basically gives you a chance to lock in a hotel room before booking is made available online.
well that is super nice and thoughtful to do!
 
Just signed up for my FIRST EVER Half Marathon...I'm so psyched (and nervous!) that I'll be running the Disney Princess Half with some of you fine folks :cheer2:

If everything works out for her health-wise, I'll be running as a Duo with a special needs "Princess" athlete in a racing stroller :) I've been running with 'Inclusive Racing of RVA' for several years and we're looking forward to bringing the party to the Princess Half! <3
 
This is our first time running a Disney race. What has the 10k course been in previous years? I know it could change, but was just wondering what is was in past years. Thanks.
 
I'd like to set the goal of running through the castle this year when it is still dark and having it lit up. For those who have run princess before what time should I be aiming to be at the castle for / what's the latest time I have till to make this happen?

I'm sure our resident meteorologists will do this better...... but I'll weigh in anyway! Sunrise in Orlando for Princess this year was 6:56 am, but Civil Twilight was 6:31-6:55 and Nautical twilight was from 6:04-6:31--meaning the sky was already perceptibly lightening. The castle is roughly mile 5.5, and the race starts at 5:30. So to get the full effect of lit castle and dark sky, you would probably need to go off in A, maybe B and run sub-9 miles. I ran it once from A a few years ago, but don't recall the castle. Now it's time for actual 2019 runners to weigh in!

This is our first time running a Disney race. What has the 10k course been in previous years? I know it could change, but was just wondering what is was in past years. Thanks.

Try this (scroll down and you'll see it)..... https://noguiltdisney.com/2019-disn...thon-corrals-waivers-course-maps-event-guide/

Ever since RD went to using their own website for event guides, the "archived" version is no longer available.
 
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This is our first time running a Disney race. What has the 10k course been in previous years? I know it could change, but was just wondering what is was in past years. Thanks.

Starts off on the highways outside epcot, goes through world showcase starting around mile 3, goes around the epcot resorts, then back through more of world showcase and future world and finishes just outside epcot.

Here's a map from 2017 that I found online:
2017_princess17_10k-1.png


We won't see the official course map for 2020 until early February-ish, but in past years it has been the same 10K course as Marathon Weekend, and we should see that map in late December.
 
I'm sure our resident meteorologists will do this better...... but I'll weigh in anyway! Sunrise in Orlando for Princess this year was 6:56 am, but Civil Twilight was 6:31-6:55 and Nautical twilight was from 6:04-6:31--meaning the sky was already perceptibly lightening. The castle is roughly mile 5.5, and the race starts at 5:30. So to get the full effect of lit castle and dark sky, you would probably need to go off in A, maybe B and run sub-9 miles. I ran it once from A a few years ago, but don't recall the castle. Now it's time for actual 2019 runners to weigh in!



Try this (scroll down and you'll see it)..... https://noguiltdisney.com/2019-disn...thon-corrals-waivers-course-maps-event-guide/

Ever since RD went to using their own website for event guides, the "archived" version is no longer available.

Ok, this is helpful as a jumping off point. Last year for the half I was in corral E and from the time stamp on a video I took as I went thru the castle I was there for 730. But there were also factors in that - stopped for a couple character photos on the way including a 20 min wait for the princes, had not trained as much as I would have liked because of fighting a bad cold over the holidays and starting a new job, and the humidity was wild.

I was thinking to make this goal happen I'll have to forgo character photos on the way (unless the line is reallyyyyy short), and do a better job on training and add more speed work into the plan. In a perfect world actually training could get me a faster POT and an earlier corral as well.

Thank you!
 
This may be a stupid question but normally ESPN complex requires admission, for bib pickup/merchandise how do you enter? or is it open to anyone during marathon weekends?
 
I'm sure our resident meteorologists will do this better...... but I'll weigh in anyway! Sunrise in Orlando for Princess this year was 6:56 am, but Civil Twilight was 6:31-6:55 and Nautical twilight was from 6:04-6:31--meaning the sky was already perceptibly lightening. The castle is roughly mile 5.5, and the race starts at 5:30. So to get the full effect of lit castle and dark sky, you would probably need to go off in A, maybe B and run sub-9 miles. I ran it once from A a few years ago, but don't recall the castle. Now it's time for actual 2019 runners to weigh in!



Try this (scroll down and you'll see it)..... https://noguiltdisney.com/2019-disn...thon-corrals-waivers-course-maps-event-guide/

Ever since RD went to using their own website for event guides, the "archived" version is no longer available.
Starts off on the highways outside epcot, goes through world showcase starting around mile 3, goes around the epcot resorts, then back through more of world showcase and future world and finishes just outside epcot.

Here's a map from 2017 that I found online:
2017_princess17_10k-1.png


We won't see the official course map for 2020 until early February-ish, but in past years it has been the same 10K course as Marathon Weekend, and we should see that map in late December.


Thanks for this info.
 
I'd like to set the goal of running through the castle this year when it is still dark and having it lit up. For those who have run princess before what time should I be aiming to be at the castle for / what's the latest time I have till to make this happen?

In 2018, I ran the HM during Marathon Weekend. According to Weather Underground, the Astronomical Twilight was 5:56am, Nautical Twilight was 6:24am, Civil Twilight was 6:54am and Sunrise was at 7:19am.

At 6:09am, I arrived at the castle at mile 5.8 (per my Garmin) and it looked like this:

406531

At 7:00am, I arrived at the EPCOT finish line and it looked like this:

406532

So based on the picture, I'd say even before sunrise was still relatively dark (but definitely getting lighter) if that's the look you're going for when you hit the castle. So since per @jmasgat the sunrise for princess was 6:56am, then you'd want to get to mile 5.8 by around 6:30-6:40am to have a similar sky as the above EPCOT photo. Based on previous years corral start times, that would be the following average min/mile (including character stops) from each corral:

A - 11:02 min/mile or less
B - 10:21 min/mile or less
C - 9:39 min/mile or less
D - 8:27 min/mile or less
E - 7:04 min/mile or less
 
A - 11:02 min/mile or less
B - 10:21 min/mile or less
C - 9:39 min/mile or less
D - 8:27 min/mile or less
E - 7:04 min/mile or less
My experience matches this. A few years ago I started near the front of C, ran right at a 9 minute mile pace and had a pretty dark background for my castle pictures. I made it a point to skip photos until after the castle to make this happen. IMO, it wasn't worth it. A couple of great pictures at the castle, but I missed out on others on the way there.
 

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